• Hello Guest, welcome to the initial stages of our new platform!
    You can find some additional information about where we are in the process of migrating the board and setting up our new software here

    Thank you for being a part of our community!

Jared's '79 5.3 244 Project: The Qwikbrik

Change the cam and springs and don't open it up, Sloppy style.
Summit's new line of LS cams looks promising and cheap. I have a LS spring compressor tool that lets you change springs with the heads on- glad to loan it if you want.
I think for N/A that doing bigger injectors, fuel pump and lines plus E85 would be a good upgrade that would allow more timing for more HP/torque without drastic changes to the motor, just a better tune.
 
Google Sloppy Mechanics stage 3 cam. My research says to use that or the Brian Tooley mentioned here. The new Summit cams are copies of the Tooley cams from the hubbub I've heard.
 
Heads are already off the 6.0, thus the ability to do some machine work without much more effort.

I have some 36lb/hr injectors for it, which should be plenty for my goals. Definitely going to put a better fuel pump setup on the car than what it's got now (tired "Walbro" 255 in the tank).

As much as I'd like to run E85, we just don't have it up here. The closest station that has it is down in Gainesville.
 
IMO, I'd leave the surfaces alone.
Why? Two excuses: leaving the CR stock-ish will let you run 87 in a pinch AND you should get the excellent durability without worrying about beating anything up with a questionable tune.

But that's just me.
 
Heads are already off the 6.0, thus the ability to do some machine work without much more effort.

I have some 36lb/hr injectors for it, which should be plenty for my goals. Definitely going to put a better fuel pump setup on the car than what it's got now (tired "Walbro" 255 in the tank).

As much as I'd like to run E85, we just don't have it up here. The closest station that has it is down in Gainesville.

I used Volvo 850 turbo orange injectors-315cc/min
 
Actually got a fair bit accomplished last night. Old front suspension has been removed, and bushings have been removed from the control arms in preparation for the STS Machining Delrin bushings.

5j5ZHKxH.jpg


EPfNlZLh.jpg


fdXGBjgh.jpg


jpzLgDah.jpg


Coilovers are from Hockey930's old 760. They're 240 coilovers that he ran ball joint adapters on to fit the grandpa stuff. Koni 8610-1436 Race inserts and 400lb springs. (This is just as much for my reference as anything).

Struts still seem to be in good shape and probably have like no mileage on them anyway, so they're going in.

The camber plates are vintage Kaplan (I think) but look like they'll work just fine.
 
These guys showed up on Friday, but I had a trip out of town planned for the weekend. Got back in last night and put it all together. Went together really nicely, gonna install the arms on the car tonight and hang the suspension.

tvgzBKDh.jpg
 
Control arms are in. Toight like toiger.

Spent last night fiddling with the strut plates. They're old Kaplan pieces, but should work if I can figure out what the hell I wanna do with them. I guess I'll just bolt them on in the way that makes the most sense and play with things once I get on an alignment rack.

Thought I could swap the ball joints over to get the front suspension buttoned up last night, but turns out one ball joint is wasted, even though it probably only had 15k on it. Oh well. Got a pair of those ordered up.

8.8 is sitting on the ground in the driveway waiting to go in. The stock diff has been evicted from the 244 and installed in the parts 245 so it can roll. Brakes will go on here before long too.

Can't get the trans out of the parts car with the motor in there, so I guess I'm gonna have to pull and reinstall the motor before that wagon goes off to it's new owner. Sorta wishing I hadn't sold it as a complete setup now. There's a fair bit of fuel system stuff that could be scavenged. Maybe I'll make it look extra ****ty so he'll back out.
 
Can't get the trans out of the parts car with the motor in there, so I guess I'm gonna have to pull and reinstall the motor before that wagon goes off to it's new owner. Sorta wishing I hadn't sold it as a complete setup now. There's a fair bit of fuel system stuff that could be scavenged. Maybe I'll make it look extra ****ty so he'll back out.

Are you trying to get a manual out or auto out?
 
Manual. It's impossible without pulling the motor. Already asked the PO. He said he tried every approach he could, but wound up having to pull it together.

did he lower the whole front crossmember 4"? Thats what I did to get my 4l60 out
 
Well the deal on the guy buying the shell with the 5.3 in it fell through. I sorta figured it would.

I guess I might as well just pull the whole deal together and drop it in the '79, and build the 6.0 as I have time. The 5.3+T56 would get the car on the road pretty quickly.
 
I can testify to this.


I'd imagine this is also accurate, as a 5.3 with a decent cam probably makes more than some of the hot street SOHC engines here with a much less violent power band.

My tuned stock 5.3 is a hoot on on ramps and highway passing. I cam would just make it even more entertaining.
 
What a weekend. TL,DR: It runs.

Here's where we started...just a shell of a car sitting on jackstands. Nothing in the engine bay, no transmission, no differential, no suspension, nothing.

cLJwlD3h.jpg


Let's get to work.

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="ctQmRKc"><a href="//imgur.com/ctQmRKc">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Kyle showed up Friday afternoon at about 2pm, and we started pulling the 5.3+T56 out of the parts wagon in the driveway. It came out super easy, and that part was done within about an hour.

nmMbF6th.jpg


07E9ykch.jpg


It had rained on and off all day, so we tried to minimize our time outside since we just had a pop up awning for weather protection. I had already pulled the 8.8 out previously, so it was sitting on the ground ready to go into the '79.

Just a few bolts and some low-level cussing at tight fasteners, and she's free:

CalZGC5h.jpg


Out of the weather. Beer:30

78PQhqph.jpg


"Now what?"

6EFNFfeh.jpg


We also removed the Mustang master from the parts car and installed it on the skinny booster in the '79.

kk94zsGh.jpg


Slammed the diff in real quick and bolted it all up.

l45SX5Oh.jpg


Jacked the diff up and threw a wheel on. Looks better than I thought it would tbh. Currently these are 245s stretched a bit on a 10" wheel. I'm going to trim my lips and pull the fender since I want to fit 275s all the way around.

dbUhPJ1h.jpg


9gx6mtEh.jpg


About 10pm on Friday, Derrick (940Guy), Matt, and Kevin showed up.

q4Z9zHqh.jpg


We hooked up a battery to see where the smoke would come out at. Luckily, it all stayed in the wires, and most of the electrical stuff appears to work.

oogN9sq.gif


Friday night benchracing:

j3e6HS1h.jpg


Saturday morning, Gordon (Volvstang) drove over from Sylva to join the fun. From back to front, my V70R, my wife's T5 V70, Derrick's V70, and Gordon's Flash Green V70R.

9CVC4srh.jpg


Kevin wiring/plumbing the fuel sender:

ZbccepKh.jpg


Front suspension and brakes on:

aqkKGQah.jpg


And we got the motor set in!

TfQDQXsh.jpg


Z0OvwaGh.jpg


Saturday night pizza:

Sr1WNOEh.jpg


Trans crossmember modification:

neDvUW8h.jpg


yxQAjgCh.jpg


Hooking up various things:

3ExmvIFh.jpg


A Stick70 and his masterpiece:

B8hgxZnh.jpg


We had to modify the mounting for the trans crossmember since the pre-80 cars don't have the rearmost pair of trans crossmember mounting holes.

We knocked off at about 11pm on Saturday. Everyone was absolutely dog tired. Saturday was kind of incredible though...we made okay progress in the morning, but after lunch from about 2pm to 8pm, all five of us were constantly working on some piece or part, and things absolutely flew together.

This morning, we woke up and hit breakfast, filled the trans, changed the oil, robbed the battery out of my trash truck, and gave it a crank.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/su3I_J5JnkI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

And it works. It sputtered once, then started strong on the second crank.

I couldn't be happier.
 
Back
Top